They ran; tales of cheating death in Mumbai massacre

British businessman Mark Coutts-Smith could scarcely believe his ears as he heard other survivors describe their harrowing brushes with death at the hands of terrorists.

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Coutts-Smith, 58, had quickly escaped the besieged hotel after gunmen burst in Wednesday, then watched the terror unfold from the Gateway to India monument.

"There were just five of us foreigners who got out early, but gradually groups of people who had hidden in various locations around the hotel came dashing out and we gradually pieced together the events," he told London's Daily Telegraph.

"Some amazing and awful stories such as men bursting in and shooting everybody around the Tower pool, people hiding in cupboards and breaking out the back into other rooms, and a young lad by the pool who had a rifle pointed at him from about 2 meters away that jammed and he ran.

"At other times, we had to run for cover as the gunfire seemed to come outside and toward the plaza. ... During an exchange of gunfire, we could see serious-looking black-and-gray-clad soldiers on that roof around a door into the Palace.

"By early morning, the fire brigade were involved," he added. "They were using their sky lifts and ladders to break windows and pull trapped people out of the front and left side of the hotel."